Part 15 (2/2)
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Meditate on These Things My mouth shall praise You with joyful lips when I remember You upon my bed and meditate on You in the night watches.
-PSALM 63:5B-6 Oh, how love I Your law! It is my meditation all the day.
-PSALM 119:97 Transcendental Meditation. Yoga. New Age. We hear these terms all the time, and they cause many Christians to avoid any reference to meditation. They're afraid of the occult or pagan wors.h.i.+p. What they don't realize is how often the Bible urges us to meditate.
We can explain biblical meditation in a number of ways, but the one I find most helpful is to think of it as expressed in the Bible. If we read the verses above (and there are many others), we see three significant things about meditation in the Word.
First, the Scriptures refer to more than a quick reading or pausing for a few brief, reflecting thoughts. The Bible presents meditation as serious pondering. Whenever the Bible refers to meditation, it speaks to serious, committed followers. This isn't a word for quick, pick-me-up Bible verses or Precious Promises. I'm not opposed to those, but this is a call to deeper, more serious concentration.
Second, the biblical contexts show meditation as ongoing and habitual. ”It is my meditation all the day,” says the verse above. In Joshua 1:8, G.o.d told Joshua to meditate on the law day and night. We get the impression that the people who spoke of meditating did so seriously and threw their minds fully into the action. Psalm 1:2 says that the G.o.dly person meditates on G.o.d's law day and night.
Third, meditation has a reward. It's not just to meditate or go through a religious ritual. In most of the biblical pa.s.sages where the term occurs, the writer goes on to point out the results. Again in Joshua 1:8: ”. . . For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.”
Psalm 1 describes the G.o.dly person who meditates day and night on G.o.d's law (or Word) and says, ”. . . and everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity]” (v. 3).
Despite what I've pointed out, we don't talk or teach much about meditation today. It's hard work! It demands time. Meditation also demands undivided attention.
If you want to win the battle for the mind, meditation is a powerful weapon for you to use. You must focus on portions of G.o.d's Word. You must read them, perhaps repeat them aloud, and keep them before you. Some people repeat a verse again and again until the meaning fills their mind and becomes part of their thinking. The idea is that you won't put the Word of G.o.d in practice physically until you first practice it mentally. Meditation is a life principle because it ministers life to you, and your behavior ministers life to others through you.
I could go on and on about the subject of meditating on G.o.d's Word, because it seems there is no end to what G.o.d can show me out of one verse of Scripture. The Word of G.o.d is a treasure chest of powerful, life-giving secrets that G.o.d wants to reveal to us. I believe these truths are manifested to those who meditate on, ponder, study, think about, practice mentally, and mutter the Word of G.o.d. The Lord reveals Himself to us when we diligently meditate on His Word. Throughout the day, as you go about your daily affairs, ask the Holy Spirit to remind you of certain scriptures on which you can meditate.
You'll be amazed at how much power will be released into your life from this practice. The more you meditate on G.o.d's Word, the more you will be able to draw readily upon its strength in times of trouble.
This is how we can stay filled with the Holy Spirit-stay with the Lord through meditation and through singing and praising. As we spend time in His presence and ponder His Word, we grow, we encourage others, and we win the battles against the enemy of our minds.
Holy Spirit of G.o.d, help me to spend time every day meditating on the treasures of Your Word. I thank You for showing me that as I fill my mind with pure and holy thoughts, I will become a stronger and better disciple. Amen.
91.
The Blessings of Meditation My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh.
-PROVERBS 4:20-22 In these verses, the writer used the words, attend to my words, which is another way of exhorting us to meditate. I love the fact that G.o.d not only frequently tells us to meditate-to ponder seriously-His Word, but He frequently promises results. It's as if G.o.d says, ”Okay, Joyce, if you meditate, here's what I'm going to do for you.”
In this pa.s.sage, the promise is life and health. Isn't that amazing? It's even a promise that when you contemplate and brood over the Bible, it will affect your physical body.
We've known for a long time that when we fill our minds with healthy, positive thoughts, it affects our body and improves our health. This is just another way of repeating this truth. Or take the opposite viewpoint: Suppose we fill our minds with negative thoughts and remind ourselves how frail we are or how sick we were the day before. We soon become so filled with self-pity and self-defeating thoughts that we get even sicker.
In the previous pages, I've already mentioned the idea of prosperity (see Psalm 1 and Joshua 1:8). I believe that by ”prosperity,” G.o.d means that we'll be enriched and prosper in every part of our lives. It's not a promise of more material wealth, but an a.s.surance of being able to enjoy all the wonderful blessings we have.
Recently when I meditated on several pa.s.sages in the Bible, I realized G.o.d was showing me that the Word has hidden treasures in it-powerful, life-giving secrets-which G.o.d wants to reveal to us. They are there for those who muse, ponder, and contemplate the Word of G.o.d.
What we often forget is that G.o.d wants our fellows.h.i.+p, our company, and our time with Him. If we want a deep relations.h.i.+p with our heavenly Father, we have to make quality time for G.o.d. I recently heard someone say, ”Quality time comes out of quant.i.ty times.” In other words, it's only as we spend time with G.o.d on a regular, daily basis that we have those special, life-changing moments. We can't program them to happen, but if we're there on a daily basis, G.o.d will cause some of those times to be quality times of special blessing.
D. L. Moody once said that the Bible would keep us from sin, or sin would keep us from the Bible. That's the principle here. As we concentrate on G.o.d's Word and allow it to fill our thoughts, we will push away all desire to sin or to displease G.o.d in any way. We become more deeply rooted in Him. Again, think of it in the negative. When our mind remains focused on our problems all the time, we become consumed with them. If we meditate on what's wrong with others, we see even more flaws and faults. But when we concentrate on G.o.d's Word, light comes into our souls.
I want to go back one more time to that powerful statement in Philippians 4:8. No matter which translation or paraphrase we read it in, the message is powerful and exactly what we need to do to condition our minds for victory.
Here's Eugene Peterson's paraphrase in The Message: ”Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, n.o.ble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious-the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.”
Dear Father in heaven, teach me the blessings of pondering Your Word, of filling my heart and mind with Your spiritual manna. May I grow into maturity and become more and more like Your Son, Jesus. It's in His name that I pray. Amen.
92.
Anointed to Bring Deliverance The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me, because He has anointed Me [the Anointed one, the Messiah] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity], to proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord [the day when salvation and the free favors of G.o.d profusely abound].
-LUKE 4:18-19 Almost every time I finish speaking at a meeting, people come to me with sad stories of abuse and pain. I understand and often I hurt with them. I understand because I've been there. In my book Battlefield of the Mind, I referred to some of that dysfunctional background.5 I point that out because in the past, I have used my background as an excuse for not growing, for living in defeat, and for allowing Satan to control my mind.
”What else can you expect? Look where I came from.” I've heard people talk that way. Perhaps it comforts them to think that whatever their past held will determine their present and their future. They have that choice if they want to believe that lie of Satan.
”Don't you know that G.o.d loves you, and that Jesus wants to deliver you from your past?” I ask. ”Don't you realize that where you were is only the starting place? You can determine where you want to go and how you live your life.”
I can say those words because of my background, the truth I've found in G.o.d's Word, and the Lord's deliverance that I have experienced.
From the first public appearance of Jesus recorded in Luke's gospel, I learned something powerful and significant. Jesus went to the synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth, the leader handed Him the scroll of Isaiah, and Jesus read the words printed above. What the people there didn't understand was that what He was reading to them was describing Himself: ”The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me . . . to announce release to the captives” (v. 18).
Isn't that what Jesus did then? Isn't that what Jesus does now? He said G.o.d had anointed Him for just that task. If that's true-and I don't doubt it for a second-do I really honor Jesus by remaining a captive? If Jesus received the anointing to deliver me, there can be only one of two possible results: He sets me free or He doesn't.
This is the battlefield of the mind, as I've been pointing out again and again. Jesus says, ”He has anointed Me!” The devil asks, ”Did G.o.d really anoint Jesus?”
Your deliverance (and mine) depends on which voice we listen to. If we listen to Jesus and believe Him, He says that deliverance is not only possible but it is a reality. If G.o.d anointed Jesus for that purpose, it means G.o.d empowered Him. Jesus came to open prison doors and set the captives free. You and I can't be set free until we start to believe it's possible. If you believe that G.o.d loves you, wants only the best for you, and has a perfect plan for your life, how can you doubt?
You may have had a terrible, sad, and abusive past, as I did. Thousands of others have worse childhoods than you had, but they received healing. The fourth chapter of Luke tells of another synagogue where Jesus went and ”. . . there was a man who was possessed by the foul spirit of a demon” (4:33). Jesus set him free. Jesus did that because that's what the Lord does-He sets the prisoners free, and He'll also set you free.
Lord Jesus, You have been anointed to set me free. Forgive me for listening to Satan's voice that makes me feel I'm beyond help. You are the Deliverer. In Your holy name, I ask You to deliver me from everything that holds me back from fully and totally serving You. Amen.
93.
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